March 5/99 7:22 am - Changes at Rocky, OCA Insurance, Murcia

Posted by Editor on 03/5/99

Changes At Rocky Mountain

Today, at the Toronto Bike Show, Grayson Bain, the founder of Rocky Mountain Bicycles, dropped by the booth to give us a news release that is sure to have long term effects on the company he recently sold to Procycle.

The gist of the release is that he will be taking a six month sabbatical from the company, starting June of 2000. The upshot of this decision is that Bain will step down immediately as General Manager of Rocky Mountain, and will focus on Special Projects for the company. Raymond Dutil, President of Procycle, will take on the title and role of Interim General Manager while the company conducts a search for a G.M. (Ed. Note: time to dust of your resumé!)

Our Analysis:

For the long term, there are some disturbing implications for Rocky. While Grayson has not always been the most hard-headed leader when it comes to the bottom line, he has been one of the key figures in establishing Rocky worldwide as one of the premier brands. Unfortunately, this has never translated into skyrocketing sales (partially because the company has been too focussed on tech stuff, and not enough on getting product out the door at a reasonable profit margin).

Procycle has been more successful at hitting those key big volume price points, but has struggled to develop the high end reputation that Rocky enjoys.

So, does this mean that Rocky will now start to head "down market"? In the next year, probably not, since Grayson's stamp will still be on the line. After that, who knows? It will be hard to resist cutting some cost corners, which, if not done carefully, will turn off the droves of loyal Rocky riders.

Our suggestion - buy your Rocky this season, because who knows what the future may bring.

New OCA Insurance Program

Ralph Neumann, OCA Treasurer, dropped by the booth to tell us about the new Ontario Cycling Association insurance program. After discussions with the CCA, the two bodies have reached agreement on a new policy that addresses many of the concerns raised by members on our Forums.

The Changes:

For Club Insurance the clubs have the original option ($25 Club Comprehensive General Liability, $5 member CGL and AD&D). Or, Option 2 with the same Club charge, but $3 member charge for CGL only. Or a third option where a Club can completely decline OCA insurance (the Club must send proof of alternative coverage to the OCA). Under the third option, the Club sends a $2/member levy to the oCA for being an OCA member club.

For non-member Sanctioned Event Insurance there are also 3 options now. The organizer can purchase CGL and AD&D coverage for $10/rider. The second option is $5/rider for either CGL or AD&D. The final option is to decline any insurance coverage (the event/rider must sign a Waiver of Insurance).

There is no change to the 24 hour coverage for licenced riders.

Ralph pointed out that the OCA is trying to come up with alternatives to meet the requests of clubs and members. Post your comments on the Forums.

Site Down

You may have noticed some downtime on the site earlier today and overnight. The cause was power outages at the ISP that provides our server connection to the internet. We apologize for any frustration this may have caused (our frustration, on the other hand, may take a day or two to die down...). A further warning: Toronto Hydro will be conducting their Y2K readiness test this weekend, so we have been told that there is the possibility of further outages...